The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

?php
>

Monday, February 29, 2016

Minority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats voice objections to President Barack Obama's decision not to implement provisions in trade law that instruct U.S. trading partners to protect Israel from politically motivated boycotts and sanctions.

Senate Democrats have opened a rare public
feud with President Barack Obama over a congressional effort to
discourage America's trading partners from targeting Israel with
politically motivated boycotts and sanctions.

Minority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats
voiced their objections to Obama's decision not to implement provisions
in a trade law that instructs U.S. negotiators to protect Israel from
being punished economically for its policies toward the Palestinians.

Specifically, the provision instructs U.S.
negotiators to resist other countries' actions that support the
"boycott, divestment and sanctions" movement, known as BDS. The senators
said the movement tracks with growing anti-Semitism around the world.

Obama is opposed to the boycott movement and has pledged to fight it "as long as I am president."

But his administration took issue with part of
the bill that it said conflates Israel with "Israeli-controlled
territories." That's a reference to Judea and Samaria and east
Jerusalem, which Israel took control of from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day
War. The Palestinians want these areas to be part of a future
Palestinian state.

The U.S. considers Israeli settlements in
these areas to be illegitimate, and the White House said the language
lumping Israel and these areas together contradicts U.S. policy on
settlements.

In a signing statement Obama issued Wednesday,
he said he intended to interpret the law "in a manner that does not
interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct diplomacy."

But the senators said the White House has
mischaracterized the provisions as making a U.S. policy statement about
Israeli settlements.

"This simply is not the case," they said. The
provisions are aimed at countering "commercial actions aimed at
delegitimizing Israel and pressuring Israel into unilateral concessions
outside the bounds of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,"
according to the senators.

Reid was joined in the statement on Thursday by
Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ben
Cardin of Maryland, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Richard Blumenthal of
Connecticut.